“Arlo and Julie” stars Ashley Spillers and Alex Dobrenko and was directed by UT lecturer Steve Mims, who recruited students to fill out his crew.

“‘Arlo and Julie’ is wonderfully charming and a fine example of our creative community at work.”

That was the closing line of the Austin American-Statesman review of the entirely UT-staffed feature film, “Arlo and Julie,” which won over critics at its world premiere during the 2014 South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival in March. The comedy centers on the quirky relationship between Arlo and Julie, who are anonymously mailed pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. As the meaning behind the puzzle grows more perplexing, the couple’s relationship is jeopardized as they become obsessed with the mystery.

Steve Mims, veteran lecturer in the Department of Radio-Television-Film in the Moody College of Communication, wrote and directed the film. To fill out his crew, Mims turned to the 15 undergraduate and two graduate students from his “feature film workshop” course in spring 2013, meaning the students earned both film and academic credit. The only hired crew members were art director Kakii Keenan (B.A. Studio Art, ’83), and sound recordist and line producer Joe Bailey, Jr. (B.A. Plan II/History ’05, J.D. ’08).

To fund the film, Mims launched a Kickstarter campaign that raised $33,000 in nearly one month. The modest budget — by feature-length standards — allowed for the filmmakers to pay actors, reach an agreement with the Screen Actors Guild, and cover the cost of the two professionals, plus marketing and legal fees.

“We always knew with the budget we couldn’t support a full crew,” said Mims. “But the work ethic of the students I recruited to make this film is excellent — and if you enjoy working with them, it makes it easy to trust them and believe in their dedication.

“It’s a great way for them to get experience,” added Mims. “The bigger part of it is students are able to get an idea of the commitment involved and live out what is learned from all their production classes.”

The course required students to work a minimum of six hours one day a week. The film was shot on digital in locations around Austin including the sixth floor studios in the CMB on campus and in the border town of Terlingua, Texas. The production wrapped just short of 18 days.

Students built sets, managed the production schedule, set lights and grip equipment, acted as camera and boom mic operators and often interchanged roles on set. After shooting wrapped in early March, students helped Mims critique raw footage and performances and evaluate edits. By early May, a rough cut of the 76-minute film was in the can.

Senior RTF major Jorge Corona was first assistant camera operator and says it was a boost to his education and career.

“I just know that the experience makes me a more attractive asset to any production,” said Corona, who got hooked on film after he first saw the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. “And the experience working hands on for a feature-length project is pretty big to me, knowing all it takes to do something of that magnitude.”

Don Howard, production area head of the RTF department and director of UT3D, said a course in which students receive credit to help shoot a faculty member’s film is not typical, as the timing and fit of projects often don’t align with that of the course schedule.

“I wish we could to do this more — in a lot of ways, it’s better than an internship experience where students may be seen as a low-level employee,” said Howard. “We can’t necessarily plan on doing it every semester, but we’re open to it when the stars align.”

Howard said hands-on, feature filmmaking classes such as Mims’ are only successful if talented and experienced filmmakers lead them.

“I trusted Steve could shoot it in one semester, and he knew the only way it would work is if it was a good experience for the students,” said Howard. “The most amazing thing to me is that we have filmmakers who are so successful — but choose to stay here because they love to teach.”

“Arlo and Julie” was one of only eight films chosen to premiere at SXSW, out of more than 1,200 submissions. It continues the festival circuit, with upcoming showings at the Waterfront Film Festival in Michigan and the Nantucket Film Festival in Massachusetts.

]]>http://www.utexas.edu/know/2014/06/03/arlo-and-julie/feed/0Where undergrads find a spark for creativityhttp://www.utexas.edu/know/2012/04/02/ransom_undergraduate/
http://www.utexas.edu/know/2012/04/02/ransom_undergraduate/#commentsMon, 02 Apr 2012 20:08:28 +0000palmercrhttp://www.utexas.edu/know/?p=24742Whether a first-year student or a graduating senior, students can explore and be inspired by the offerings of the Harry Ransom Center, the university’s humanities research library and museum.

Through exposure to and interaction with collection materials — whether it be a manuscript, photograph, artwork or rare book — students can open the door to the creative process.

Watch this video about what the Ransom Center offers students and how its collections can spark the imagination.

]]>http://www.utexas.edu/know/2012/04/02/ransom_undergraduate/feed/1The lowdown on Scarlett’s green dresshttp://www.utexas.edu/know/2010/09/17/gwtw_dress/
http://www.utexas.edu/know/2010/09/17/gwtw_dress/#commentsFri, 17 Sep 2010 20:40:56 +0000Marjorie Smithhttp://www.utexas.edu/know/?p=14094This article originally appeared in the Further Findings research blog.

It would have been a good story if the curtains Scarlett O’Hara ripped down in “Gone With The Wind” had been used to make her famous curtain dress, which is housed at the Harry Ransom Center.

But, alas, that’s not the case.

Hoping for a further finding, Further Findings put that question to Steve Wilson, the film curator at the Harry Ransom Center. The dress and 5,000 boxes of other materials from the second-best movie made in 1939 (my pick is “The Wizard of Oz”) are in the center’s David O. Selznick Collection.

Wilson replied that no, the curtains were not used.

Green curtain dress (the Portieres dress) worn by Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O’Hara in “Gone With The Wind.”

But we can tell you that the material for the dress didn’t come directly from the fabric store, either.

“The fabric was distressed in various ways to make it appear to have been faded and damaged by hanging in a window,” Wilson said.

The question was prompted by the Ransom Center’s quest for donations for preserving the curtain dress and other costumes that Vivien Leigh, who played Scarlett, wore in the movie.

In just a couple of weeks, the Ransom Center raised $30,000 from donors from around the country and the world.

The Ransom Center will restore the dresses and purchase protective housing and custom-fitted mannequins to allow for proper exhibition according to conservation best practices and standards.

]]>http://www.utexas.edu/know/2010/09/17/gwtw_dress/feed/0There's no business like show businesshttp://www.utexas.edu/know/2010/05/25/the_film_business_series/
http://www.utexas.edu/know/2010/05/25/the_film_business_series/#commentsTue, 25 May 2010 13:00:10 +0000Mason Joneshttp://www.utexas.edu/know/?p=9931Go behind the scenes of the film business for insights about the past, present and future of the medium of moving pictures.

Over the course of five weeks, McCombs Today — the blog for the McCombs School of Business — presented a video series about the movie industry. The five videos offer perspectives across the spectrum, from historical context to pioneers of the digital frontier.

“Machinima Revolution“: Video games and filmmaking collide in the realm of Machinima, an emerging medium dominated by the cult Web series “Red vs. Blue.” Series creator Burnie Burns pulls back the curtain for a look inside this brave new world where producers can reach their audiences directly.

“Sustainable Cinema“: Nicholas Jayanty of Reversal Films shares insights on threading the needle of art and commerce in the production of the rock documentary “Echotone” and the establishment of the Sustainable Cinema Initiative.

“New Dimensions in Distribution with Jason Brenek” (BBA ’94): As senior vice president of distribution channel strategy for Disney, Jason Brenek is leading the cause of changing cinema forever. From immersive 3-D to flexible content access, it’s a brave new world of opportunities for producers, distributors and theaters.

“Historical Perspective“: Monopoly is the name of the game in the film industry, as University of Texas at Austin film Professor Janet Staiger reflects on the formation and evolution of the movie biz.
“The Social Scene at the Alamo with Tim League“: Alamo Drafthouse founder Tim League shares his ideas on community involvement, social media and the future of the film industry.

]]>http://www.utexas.edu/know/2010/05/25/the_film_business_series/feed/0Steve Mims: Lecturer and cinematographerhttp://www.utexas.edu/know/2010/04/19/steve_mims_honorarium/
http://www.utexas.edu/know/2010/04/19/steve_mims_honorarium/#commentsMon, 19 Apr 2010 21:18:43 +0000Marjorie Smithhttp://www.utexas.edu/know/?p=9027Steve Mims, lecturer in the Department of Radio-Television-Film, answers a few questions about his recently debuted short film “Honorarium.” Mims released the film during South by Southwest, and it was featured again at the Austin Jewish Film Festival.

What is “Honorarium” about?
Fundamentally it’s about how we deal with people. In this case, it’s about dealing with someone you’d rather not be involved with because of his political beliefs.

The Austin Chronicle describes the film in a recent article: “Without giving too much away, “Honorarium” tells the story of the brief but ominously eventful interaction between Philip Holbrook, a controversial public speaker arriving from out of town, and his possibly sympathetic driver/minder, Anne Bowers. It’s an intense 12-plus minutes that ultimately has the slightly off-kilter tone and feel of some of the best of Rod Serling’s original Twilight Zone episodes, excising the supernatural in favor of subtle social commentary.”

What was it about this social situation that intrigued you?
Under the best circumstances it can be awkward. Under the worst circumstances it’s terrible. Small-talk can work, but when it doesn’t I’d rather be somewhere else.

The actors didn’t have any previous film experience. Why was that OK for this film?
Reid Nelson (who plays Philip Holbrook) has a theatrical background in New York. He’d never been in a film before. We developed the story together, and we wrote the part for him. He’s a bright guy and it really helped to build a part to suit him. I’ve known Alex Gehring (who plays Anne Bowers) for years because she grew up being friends with my daughter Elizabeth. She’s bright and funny and has an unusual, arresting look. She naturally has a screen presence and she’s photogenic. Alex Sole (the 95 year-old man in the film) we found the day before the shoot. It was a miracle. He took direction well. I think we did three takes, at the most, of one of his shots. Finally, Arak Avakian (the kid at the end of the film) is in school with my son Elliott at McCallum High. He looked the part and he did a perfect job.

How do you balance teaching, and filming as a hobby? Is there a lot of overlap?
I’ve been making films since I was twelve. I work professionally all the time as a writer, director, cinematographer and editor. Since I teach film and work in film, the two really complement each other quite well. Film is an area that changes, technically, all the time, so I’ve had to keep up with the technology both to do my professional work and keep my students up to date.

Have your students seen “Honorarium”?
Yes. My RTF366k class watched a rough cut last October and gave me feedback about it and met Reid Nelson in my class. Then I ran the final film for them at the end of the term. “Honorarium” is a subtle, little film and it really helped to have them see both versions to test the film to see if it worked as I hoped it would. Two members of the crew were former 366K students of mine. John Mace served as gaffer (he put up the lights on the set) and Andrew Alden Miller recorded sound. I’m lucky to have great students that I can sometimes draw upon for projects.

Like costumes, hairstyles and makeup can reveal nuance and place characters in an emotional, geographical or historical context. Certain hairstyles, for example, are instantly associated with certain periods, such as the bob cut in the 1920s or the ducktail haircut of the 1950s. Film makeup must look natural and appropriate when magnified on the big screen. It must also be durable enough to survive multiple takes and reproducible in case retakes are needed at a later time.

The tear-stain photo above is just one item from the “Hair and Makeup” section of the Making Movies exhibition, which opens Feb. 9 at the Harry Ransom Center.

Candyman (1992) — Clive Barker takes the violent history of American slavery and applies it in the modern world of poverty and crime of Chicago’s infamous housing projects Cabrini-Green.

Cemetery Man (1994) — Also know as “Dellamorte Dellamore,” Rupert Everett stars as the groundskeeper of a particularly strange graveyard in which every buried body springs back to life as a reanimated corpse. Everett’s character, Dellamorte, is responsible for killing the dead and reburying them a second time.

]]>http://www.utexas.edu/know/2009/10/27/favorite_horror_flicks/feed/0Communication cross-traininghttp://www.utexas.edu/know/2008/12/08/communication-cross-training/
http://www.utexas.edu/know/2008/12/08/communication-cross-training/#commentsMon, 08 Dec 2008 16:14:11 +0000palmercrhttp://www.utexas.edu/know/?p=660From screen writing to producing to editing and animation, April Tone explores the field of radio, television and film degree. She explains the importance of academic cross-training and building upon the expanding television and film market in Austin, Texas.
]]>http://www.utexas.edu/know/2008/12/08/communication-cross-training/feed/0UTFI produces first all-student feature filmhttp://www.utexas.edu/know/2008/08/25/utfi/
http://www.utexas.edu/know/2008/08/25/utfi/#commentsMon, 25 Aug 2008 23:10:22 +0000News Administratorhttp://www.utexas.edu/know/?p=622The University of Texas Film Institute (UTFI) began filming its first all-student feature film, “Dance with the One,” this summer with the help of more than 40 students from six schools across campus.

This is the first film being produced through UTFI’s Feature Film Lab, a two-year, five-semester non-profit program designed to train University of Texas at Austin students in all phases of professional feature filmmaking.

UTFI is reinventing the film school model by incorporating the production of feature films into the curriculum and training students in six areas of specialization: producing, directing, editing, cinematography, production design and sound.

“‘Dance with the One’” is about a 20-year-old boy who lost his childhood coming from a dysfunctional family,” says the film’s creative director Alex Smith (M.F.A. ’96), a Michener Center for Writers graduate. “He makes bad choices but is able to save his little brother from the sins of his father by becoming strong and showing brotherly love.

“The film shows potential for a family that gets healed. The strength of the writing is engaging, funny, heart-hitting and emotional at its core.”

Joshua Smith Henderson, of the Michener Center (M.F.A ’08), wrote “Dance with the One” with Jon Marc Smith. The film is directed by Mike Dolan (M.F.A. ’07), a Michener Center graduate who has been a writer and director in the UTFI Feature Film Lab.

“Jon Marc Smith and I were inspired by a few kinds of Austin, Texans: the psychedelic cowboy, the successful Mexican-American businessman, the washouts and drug casualties, and finally the children of such people,” Henderson says.

“The script began as one of eight selected for a fall 2007 screenwriting lab, which culminated in a fully cast public reading,” Schatz says. “It was one of four scripts selected to move on to the spring production lab where teams of student directors, producers, actors, cinematographers and production designers cast and shot key scenes from the scripts to better explore the films’ characters, tone, look and market viability.”

]]>http://www.utexas.edu/know/2008/08/25/utfi/feed/0Prof in New York Times Magazinehttp://www.utexas.edu/know/2007/11/15/schatz-clipping/
http://www.utexas.edu/know/2007/11/15/schatz-clipping/#commentsThu, 15 Nov 2007 21:17:45 +0000News Administratorhttp://www.utexas.edu/know/2007/11/15/schatz-clipping/Editor’s Note: The following is an excerpt from an essay written by Thomas Schatz, the Mrs. Mary Gibbs Jones Centennial Chair in Communication.

In a culture industry fueled by formula, no genre has been more important to Hollywood than the western. From the birth of “the movies” through the classical Hollywood era (1920-1960), the western played not only a vital role as a popular narrative form — and one that would comprise nearly a fifth of all feature films from the silent era through the 1950s — but also in shaping the business of filmmaking itself. The symbiosis of movies and westerns actually began not in
Hollywood but in New Jersey and New York, where Edwin S. Porter’s “Great Train Robbery” was made in 1903. This 10-minute, one-reel film, with its sequential plot, multiple locations and climactic gunfight, set the standard for both the western and narrative filmmaking. The popularity and physical requirements of the genre, especially locations, were key reasons for the industry’s migration to Hollywood after 1910. (And the fact that most films were shot outdoors or on open-air stages, because of the requirements of early film stock and cameras, among other factors, reinforced the preference for “outdoor” subjects like the western.) By the mid-1920s, maybe half of Universal’s annual output of 60 or so feature films was westerns, most of them low-cost “oaters” starring Hoot Gibson. Running a strong but distant second among the studios was Fox Film Corporation, but its westerns, starring Buck Jones and Tom Mix, had higher production values.